I watched a movie tonight that posed some questions about art and it's true definition. The movie, titled Vicky Cristina Barcelona, held a ensemble of artists as it's main characters: a poet, a painter, a photographer, and an all-in-one writer, director, and actress. The poet refuses sharing his work with the world for he hates it and wishes to deprive them of his art. The painter is a Casanova that uses his skill and worldliness to seduce women. The photographer is an artist in many ways, but she uses her expertise in this area to aid another character come into her own as a creator. And, the writer-director-actress believes she has no talent at all and envies those that she believes possesses these gifts. Seeing the motivations of these characters in this film makes you wonder, how much of art is defined by self-expression versus the influence of others. The poet, who is extremely gifted, uses his art as a weapon. By withholding his writings, he's trying to send a message to the world: they aren't worthy. While this is in part self-expression, is it not also an attempt to make the public feel a certain way and react? The painter is similar. He is the son of the poet and while he sees his father as a stubborn old man, he is striving for reaction in a similar fashion: except with women as his targets. The photographer is an extremely gifted woman. She writes and paints and takes photographs, but she also used brilliance to make other characters better as artists. The photographer and the painter were once married, but have since divorced. And while the photographer is a bit eccentric, the painter admits that she is justified in saying that a lot of his style was developed from her influence. The writer-director-actress, after admitting that she views herself as talentless, developed abilities as a photographer with the ex-wife's help. We see through all these individuals that we cannot simplify art as purely "self-expression". There's a lot more to it than that. Art is also about the way in which we touch other people, how we move them with our creations. After all, what is art without an audience?